Confucian Ethics

The Chinese ethical tradition has often been thought to oppose Western views of the self--as autonomous and possessed of individual rights--with views that emphasize the centrality of relationship and community to the self. The essays in this collection discuss the validity of that contrast as it concerns Confucianism, the single most influential Chinese school of thought. (Alasdair MacIntyre, who has significantly articulated the need for dialogue across traditions, contributes a concluding essay of commentary.)

Introduction; Part I. Rights and Community: 1. Are claim rights necessary?: a Confucian perspective Craig K. Ihara; 2. Rights and community in Confucianism David B. Wong; 3. Whose democracy? Which rights? A confucian critique of modern western liberalism Henry Rosemont, Jr.; 4. The normative impact of comparative ethics: human rights Chad Hansen; Part II. Self and Self-Cultivation: 5. Tradition and community in the formation of the self Joel J. Kupperman; 6. A theory of Confucian selfhood: self-cultivation and free will in confucian philosophy Chung-ying Cheng; 7. The virtue of righteousness in Mencius Bryan W. Van Norden; 8. Concept of the person in Confucian thought Kwong-loi Shun; Part III. Comments: 9. Questions for Confucians: reflections on the essays in comparative study of self, autonomy and community Alasdair MacIntyre.